Special to JTA Second Autopsy Shows Jewish Student Did Not Die of Natural Causes Parents Had Insiste

January 31, 1972

PARIS (Jan. 30)

A second autopsy performed on Roger Allouche, a 14-year-old Jewish schoolboy who died in Toulouse last week, has confirmed his parents’ suspicions that the youngster’s death was not due to natural causes, it was learned here today. According to the parents, their son succumbed to injuries inflicted by fellow students at the St. Nicholas School, a Jesuit institution which the boy attended.

A police investigation was opened at the insistence of the parents after an initial autopsy report said the boy died of natural causes. The principal of the school had informed the parents that Roger died after a “fainting spell.”

Roger was to have been buried last Friday but the burial was halted on police orders and a second autopsy was performed. The pathologist’s report was not made public immediately. According to information from Toulouse, the pathologist told the boy’s father unofficially that “your son did not die of natural causes.” The pathologist reportedly said he found abrasions and bruises all over Roger’s body and that his testicles were broken. Burial services will be held tomorrow.

Jewish sources reported that the elder Allouche became suspicious of his son’s death because the boy had a row with his English teacher at the school several weeks ago. The teacher allegedly called him a “dirty Jew” who belonged to “this dirty race.” His father suspected that the boy was assaulted by other students because he was Jewish. There was no immediate explanation of why a Jewish boy was enrolled in a Jesuit school.